Jordan raises cash rebate to 25%

Jordan’s Royal Film Commission has increased the upper limit of the Kingdom’s cash rebate from 20% to 25% for eligible productions.

The agency made the announcement yesterday at the Busan International Film Festival’s Asian Film Market.

The rebate scheme now ranges from 10-25% on all qualified expenses incurred within Jordan on film, Television, web series and radio production, commercials, photography and animation. The expenses should not exceed 75% of the production’s overall value.

The scheme requires a minimum spend of JOD 700,000 ($1m). The maximum rebate granted to a foreign production has now been lifted to $2m and is provided to a production services company registered in Jordan. To qualify, the production must employ at least 50 Jordanian crew members and train 20 interns.

Warner Bros Pictures and Legendary Entertainment’s science fiction film Dune, directed by Denis Villeneuve, and starring Timothee Chalamet, Javier Bardem, Rebecca Ferguson and Oscar Isaac, shot in Jordan earlier this year.

“We value the economic impact that television and film has in the industry in the country, and we facilitate developing our local industry through regional workshops and training,” The Royal Film Commission’s U.S. liaison officer Justin O. Cooper said at the announcement event. “We have breathtaking, diverse landscapes that easily double for many other Middle Eastern countries. We have a highly skilled crew base and many of them are English speaking and we offer a wide range of production services in the country. I am often asked, is Jordan safe to shoot in? And yes, it is one of the most stable nations in the region.”

The incentive is in addition to the sales tax exemptions for products and services purchased within Jordan; a customs taxes and duties exemption for equipment and material imported into Jordan; and exemptions of taxes on salaries and fees for non-Jordanian cast and crew members.